General Notes

Canute, b.  c.995, son of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, was king of England
(1016-35), of Denmark (1019-35), and of Norway (1028-35), as well as lord of
the Orkney and Shetland Islands and of Scotland.  He became ruler of England
as a result of military victory over Aethelred II.  However, after the death
(1016) of AEthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, he won acceptance by the English
nobility, to whom he promised, and gave, strong government.  He regarded
himself as a successor to previous English kings and married AEthelred's
widow, Emma.  Canute's replacement of the Wessex dynasty by his own had no
lasting consequences in England;  nor can his rule of England be isolated from
his wider rule of a Scandinavian political complex.  He established close ties
with the Normans, who were also Vikings.  He was the first Viking chieftain
welcomed as an equal to Christian kings by the church;  indeed, he became a
Christian and was a founder and patron of monasteries.  On Canute's death
(Nov.  12, 1035), a succession dispute occurred between his sons, Harold
Harefoot and Harthacanute.  The latter was succeeded (1042) by Edward the
Confessor, marking the restoration of the house of Wessex.